"KEEP BUSTIN'."

Oscar preview 2023

Hello friends, and welcome to my annual preview of the Oscars. They happen on Sunday and I’m anticipating them in the very rare-for-me position of my actual personal favorite movie of the year (EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE) being the clear favorite for many categories, including best picture. It makes me a little nervous because, for example, in 2015 I wasn’t expecting MAD MAX: FURY ROAD to win an “obviously this is the best picture, how is this even a discussion?” trophy, so I wasn’t let down when it didn’t. So I’m trying to keep in mind that whatever happens it’s amazing that this small, weird, unlikely movie managed to catch on so big and already won a bunch of the other awards. It doesn’t need to win everything. Though it would be cool.

This year for my preview I’ll go ahead and go through each of the categories, though I’ll have less informed opinions on some where I haven’t seen all the nominees. And of course I encourage following the links to my reviews of the ones I’ve seen.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

nominees:
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
THE BATMAN
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
TOP GUN: MAVERICK

I have indeed seen all five of these, and they all have great FX, but what kind of a maniac would even consider voting for one that is not about blue people? You could do it, but you’d be lying to yourself. Open and shut case on this one. I see you, AVATAR.

BEST FILM EDITING

nominees:
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
ELVIS

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
TÁR

TOP GUN: MAVERICK

This one is more competitive because four of them are outstanding nominees. (I don’t get why BANSHEES is in there, as much as I loved it.) MAVERICK has clockwork precision in its action scenes and storytelling, and TÁR and ELVIS have complex structure and sequences, and the latter of course has all kinds of beautiful montages to move through time and celebrate music. Extra points for so seamlessly integrating a little bit of real Elvis.

Still, I gotta go with EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE for communicating such a ridiculously complex concept and world, that would be difficult to put into words, leaving you with plenty to miss and puzzle over in subsequent viewings while communicating it clearly enough to work as a total crowdpleaser. I know that old complaint “it’s best editing, not most editing.” But you know what, smart guy, it’s also not “least editing.” In this case most and best are one and the same. Maximalism can be valid. It’s not just some random Avid fart flashiness, these cuts are laser focused. It’s just a case where it takes more lasers than usual.

SHORT FILMS

Unsurprisingly, I have not seen any of the documentary short films. I haven’t seen any of the animated shorts either. I have actually seen 1 (one) of the live action short films, LE PUPILLE, which is hard to call anything but “delightful.” It’s about some orphan girls, some mean nuns and a fancy cake. It’s on Disney+ for some reason and I’m glad I watched it even though it’s dubbed on there. But maybe the other ones are even better. Good look, short people.


BEST SOUND

This could go any way because all the nominees (ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER, THE BATMAN, ELVIS and TOP GUN: MAVERICK) have obviously praise-worthy soundscapes. If I have to choose one to root for I’ll go with ELVIS, since it’s doing interesting things with music while the others are all variations on engines and explosions and shit.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

nominees:
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

BABYLON

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

THE FABELMANS

First of all, THE BATMAN should’ve been nominated in this category. As the song says, “It’s the Batman. It’s the Batman. It’s the Batman.” These are all nice, but it’s definitely BABYLON for me. The score is so central to the experience it makes it feel like a musical. And it doesn’t sound like any other movies except those by these same people. I tried to describe it in my review:

It’s more of an expressionistic riff on the subject matter than a period piece, crashing together jazz and circus music, played by a 100-piece orchestra with wild background noise and off mic singing and chanting. Musically the vibe is like a wild, partying big band jamming on Louis Prima’s “Sing Sing Sing (With a Swing),” but sometimes disintegrating into a quiet lament from PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE, then building back up again. I also thought of THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG because of the way so much of the score sounds like one long song repeated in different styles and instrumentation.


BEST ORIGINAL SONG

nominees:
“Applause” – TELL IT LIKE A WOMAN, “Hold My Hand” – TOP GUN: MAVERICK, “Lift Me Up” – BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER, “Naatu Naatu” – RRR, “This is a Life” – EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE.

Frankly “Naatu Naatu” is the only one I remember. And to be fair, as catchy as the song is it’s the dance off sequence it accompanies that makes it so beloved. Still, it’s clearly the one that’s most crucial to its film. I don’t know how you vote for anything else.


BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

nominees:
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER

BABYLON

ELVIS

THE FABELMANS

All pretty worthy. I lean BABYLON. Incredible looking movie with alot of scope to it. Then again maybe I’m punishing AVATAR just because I know it’s mostly not sets. It looks totally real so what’s the difference?

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

nominees:
BABYLON

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER

ELVIS

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS

I haven’t seen MRS. HARRIS. I do think the costumes in BABYLON are worth praising. ELVIS maybe moreseo – they’re Elvis costumes! I would be very happy for EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE, with those great sweaters that Michelle Yeoh wears, and having to give each of the characters distinct looks in different realities. I still think BLACK PANTHER might be the most worthy because I always believe more imaginative, otherworldly costuming is more impressive, and Ruth Carter and friends created this South American inspired underwater culture, in addition to expanding on the Afrofuturist look of the first film. Since Carter already won for the first film though, I suspect she’ll be out of the running.

But now that I look at more photos maybe I lean EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE anyway because I forgot about some of the crazy outfits in there. And done on a low budget, even. But I’m too lazy to change the picture.

snubbed in this category: NEPTUNE FROST for its e-waste-based fashion.

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

I have only seen ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (GERMANY), not ARGENTINA, 1985 (ARGENTINA), CLOSE (BELGIUM), EO (POLAND) or THE QUIET ONE (IRELAND). Obviously if India had submitted RRR I would be rooting for that. Those who are more knowledgeable here, let me know what you’re rooting for.

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING


nominees:

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

THE BATMAN

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER

ELVIS

THE WHALE

THE BATMAN must be included for the incredible prosthetics on Colin Farrell that made him unrecognizable but allowed him to look like a real person. ELVIS is kind of a funny nomination since many found Tom Hanks’ fat suit comical, but I think there are some mostly subtle things they did to make Butler look more like Elvis, and to age over time, that are impressive. I think BLACK PANTHER is kind of the coolest nominee, though, since it encompasses creature-type makeup with the blue-skinned underwater people as well as the face paint that the Wakandans wear. Diegetic makeup, you could say. BLACK PANTHER obviously has by far the more noteworthy hairstyles too. (I have not seen THE WHALE.)


BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM

I have no clue what should win here because I haven’t seen ALL THAT BREATHES, ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED, A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS or NAVALNY. I did enjoy FIRE OF LOVE and reviewed it earlier this week.


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM


nominees:
GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON

PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH

THE SEA BEAST

TURNING RED

This is the category I wish I had done better on. I enjoyed TURNING RED. I’ve heard good things about both PUSS IN BOOTS and THE SEA BEAST and might watch them some day. I plan to see MARCEL and find out what that’s all about. But I would be surprised if I liked any of them more than PINOCCHIO, which I’m guessing will be the winner. It’s such a beautiful work of craftsmanship, has those great monster designs, plus I’m a sucker for something that’s cute that also deals with mortality and the rise of fascism and shit. Also talking crickets are cool. And anybody that wins best picture and then goes to work on a cartoon they always wanted to do is pretty cool. Good job, del Toro.

However it is a crime that Phil Tippett’s one-of-a-kind MAD GOD wasn’t nominated. And I wish WENDELL & WILD was too if only so there would be four stop motion nominees.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The nominees are ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, BARDO, ELVIS, EMPIRE OF LIGHT and TÁR. BARDO and EMPIRE OF LIGHT are the two I haven’t seen, and they’re shot by legends Darius Khondji and Roger Deakins, respectively, so I don’t have enough information here. Movies I believed could’ve justified a nomination here include BABYLON and THE BATMAN.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

nominees:
TOP GUN: MAVERICK

LIVING

GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY

WOMEN TALKING

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

It’s weird that this is two literary adaptations, two sequels and a remake competing against each other. Different things, really. I have not seen LIVING but enjoyed the others. I would like to see it go to WOMEN TALKING, but I also feel the need to speak up for MAVERICK, since I’ve seen that nomination made fun of. This is a sequel that was widely mocked for the many years it was developed. Yet it managed to win over most of the non-fuddy-duddy community in the end. That wasn’t easy. It’s largely a feat of filmmaking, but it could not be accomplished without a precisely tuned story and the exact right approach to presenting an older version of Maverick and giving him the right issues to deal with. It’s an excellent work of Hollywood craftsmanship, if not a bold vision in the spirit of when a Coen or a Tarantino or somebody wins this category.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

nominees:
Todd Field, TÁR

Tony Kushner and Steven Spielberg, THE FABELMANS

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

Martin McDonagh, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

Ruben Östlund, TRIANGLE OF SADNESS

I liked all of these, would say I loved four of them. I’m rooting for EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE – it’s the most unlikely work of mad genius nobody else could’ve thought of, tried to do, or come anywhere near pulling off, such a bizarre hybrid of silly comedy, over-the-top sci-fi and deeply personal family story. But TÁR and BANSHEES are also the wholly unique work of their authors, the latter having such incredible dialogue, and I appreciate Spielberg getting acknowledged for his most autobiographical work.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

nominees:
Angela Bassett, BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER

Hong Chau, THE WHALE

Kerry Condon, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

Jamie Lee Curtis, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

Stephanie Hsu, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

I’m pretty open-minded on this one. Bassett’s biggest competition is her own past performances. She’s great in that but is she Angela Bassett great? Maybe yes, maybe no. Obviously I love Jamie Lee and will celebrate her likely win, but I would go with Hsu as my favorite between the nominees from that movie. Condon has shown great improvement since playing an adult teen with braces in UNLEASHED. All good work.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR


nominees:
Brendan Gleeson, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

Brian Tyree Henry, CAUSEWAY

Judd Hirsch, THE FABELMANS

Barry Keoghan, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

Ke Huy Quan, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

I’m pro Quan despite being fairly anti-GOONIE. It’s kind of unfair what a great comeback story he has but he’s also so crucial to making that movie work. When we left THE FABELMANS my wife said “Judd Hirsch will get a best supporting actor nomination,” so good call on that, Mrs. Vern. I like the Uncle Boris scene – it’s a fun, showy role, but I personally would not vote for it over these other ones. Gleeson vs. Keoghan seems unfair because doesn’t Gleeson seem more like the lead? But he seems similar to many roles we’ve seen him do before while Keoghan does such a unique blend of comic relief weirdo and heartbreaking tragedy.

I should see CAUSEWAY – had not even heard of it when it was nominated, but Henry is one of my favorite actors working today so I’m glad he’s getting recognition. Paper Boi forever.

BEST ACTRESS

nominees:
Cate Blanchett, TÁR

Ana de Armas, BLONDE

Andrea Riseborough, TO LESLIE

Michelle Williams, THE FABELMANS

Michelle Yeoh, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

I have not seen BLONDE or TO LESLIE. I thought the HALLOWEEN H20 alumni was great in THE FABELMANS (some did not), and Blanchett is incredible in TÁR. And the other two have been very good in the movies I’ve seen them in so I have no doubt they’re worthy nominees. But I will be bummed if one of them gets an upset over Yeoh. Much has been said about the significance such a win would have for representation, and around here it goes without saying that it would be honoring one of the great international movie star careers of our lifetime. But truly you can discount all that and she’s still the clear choice for me. It’s just such an incredible role, showcasing her known talents as a dramatic actress and martial artist but even allowing her to stretch into types of comedy and vulnerability that she has not had the chance to get into before. What more could you ask for in a role, and in a performance?

Furthermore, I have always resented that while singing in a movie often works to strengthen the acclaim for an acting performance (Barbra Streisand, Jennifer Hudson, Reese Witherspoon in WALK THE LINE), physicality doesn’t, and even seems to get in the way of it. Uma Thurman wasn’t nominated for KILL BILL, Charlize Theron wasn’t among the ten nominations for FURY ROAD – rather than thinking “Holy shit, such a great performance and she did all these great action scenes,” they seem to think “that’s not serious acting, that’s just an action movie.” If I ever dared imagine Michelle Yeoh winning an Oscar I would’ve bet it was for a non-martial-arts role, but here we are. So this would warm my heart.

BEST ACTOR

nominees:
Austin Butler, ELVIS

Colin Farrell, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

Brendan Fraser, THE WHALE

Paul Mescal, AFTERSUN

Bill Nighy, LIVING

I think Butler is incredible as Elvis, and I always love Farrell, but those are the only nominees I’ve seen here, so I’m out of my element. Fraser is the clear favorite to win, and people love that guy and his comeback story. I may watch THE WHALE some day because I like Aranofsky’s movies, but it just looks so condescending and wrong-headed, and also if I thought Fraser was bad in it as I do in most of his most popular roles, I would just feel like such an asshole. So Payakan may have to remain my only whale this year.

BEST DIRECTOR

nominees:
Martin McDonagh, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

Steven Spielberg, THE FABELMANS

Todd Field, TÁR

Ruben Östlund, TRIANGLE OF SADNESS

Spielberg would be sweet, Field would kinda make sense, Daniels would be my choice.

BEST PICTURE

nominees:
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

ELVIS

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

THE FABELMANS

TÁR

TOP GUN: MAVERICK

TRIANGLE OF SADNESS

WOMEN TALKING

ALL QUIET is the only one I wasn’t planning on watching until it got nominated. I’m glad it did, because I really liked it. There’s a widely shared opinion that it’s not anti-war enough, that it glorifies it. I feel like I’m in some alternate dimension because I honestly can’t comprehend how you could possibly interpret the movie that way, even if you weren’t paying much attention, or only picked a couple scenes at random to watch. It just has so many inventive ways of depicting the utter depravity and senselessness of war, starting with the incredible montage treating hundreds of dead soldiers as a waste disposal and recycling problem, continuing with the boyish dipshit protagonists skipping straight into the meat grinder, proudly wearing their uniforms that they say seem tailored for them, though we just watched them get pulled off the corpses of the last suckers who fell for that scam. And it continues that way up until the conclusion where our lead basically goes on a mass shooting spree in full knowledge that he’s fighting for nothing in a war that’s already over. I thought it was incredibly impressive but honestly maybe I was wrong because nobody else seems to see anything but a generic war movie. Maybe it’s speaking to me in secret code.

That said I really hope it doesn’t win! Oh well, whatever goes down I’m just happy that I liked every one of these, that my official #1 and #2 movies of the year (EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE and AVATAR) were nominated, and even ELVIS, which I felt like nobody agreed with me on at first, somehow made it here in the “it’s an honor just to be nominated” slot. And also let’s just step back and admire the fact that the sequel to TOP GUN not only finally happened, not only was very good, but was even nominated for best picture! Few would’ve called that a couple years ago. (For a while there I was thinking TOP GUN might pull a CODA and win by being in everybody’s #2, 3 or 4 slot on the ranked balloting, but I don’t know.)

It’s a good movie year and a good Oscar year. So I forgive everyone for not liking THE NORTHMAN even though I believe it will be remembered longer than a couple of these. And I forgive them for not nominating Mia Goth for PEARL. It’s okay for horror to stay disreputable. Maybe it’s for the best. Maybe it’s getting too used to respect. It’s better if it doesn’t give a fuck.

But as always, if you watch the awards, have fun. Let me know what you think of the show, what your picks are, what you recommend from the ones I neglected to see. We’ll see what dumb controversies happen for us to talk about afterwards. A funny bit would be if they have some guys doing kung fu with Oscar statues stuck up their butts. Consider it, Billy Crystal or whoever.

If you would rather see a totally different type of awards, check out Vulture’s first annual Stunt Awards. I was actually a voter in this (see if you can guess which anonymous quote is mine). I believe only one thing I voted for won, but that’s okay because hopefully it means the stunt professionals got the way over the critics. They’re much more qualified to judge this than I am.

Anyway, happy awards season conclusion. Onward to the future. I’ll have my SCREAM VI review next week and the week after that if all goes as planned I will begin posting the very long director retrospective I started researching and writing something like five years ago. I’m very excited about it and I hope some of you will be too. Thanks everybody!

 

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27 Responses to “Oscar preview 2023”

  1. As usual, I haven’t seen most of the nominees, but I hope to squeeze EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE into this weekend. So here are my uninformed guesses:

    ALL QUIET is most likely a lock for Best Foreign Feature, simply because that way they don’t have to give the “real” Best Feature Oscar to a foreign movie.

    Cate Blanchett has good chances to win Best Actress, because she seems to be the “hippest” of the bunch, however Michelle Yeoh had one hell of a comeback (in the US) in recent years, plus (sorry for sounding like an asshole for a moment) the Academy might want to prove again that they are not #OscarsSoWhite, so there is a good chance they give it to her.

    I can imagine that GDT’s PINOCCHIO has good chances for an animation Oscar, but let’s be honest, it’s gonna be TURNING RED, because it’s Disney/Pixar and we all know that the voters in that category don’t watch the nominees and most of the time just pick whatever their kids like or has the Disney name attached to it.

    Best FX will probably go to TOP GUN, because the voters in that category have outed themself in recent years as snobs who jumped on the “Superheroes bad” bandwagon, which might also extend to the “AVATAR bad” bandwagon. So if they have to give it to a movie with military themed explosions, they probably hand it to the ‘murican one where the actors flew their jets for real without help of special effects.

    Best actor: Yeah, it would be surprising if Fraser doesn’t win. No offense to the other nominees, but he is the only one who actually managed to generate some hype.

  2. It really is kind of a crime that MAD GOD isn’t nominated for an animation oscar, but I guess those need to be kiddie-friendly; there’s not a lot of clips they could show of that movie that wouldn’t disturb more than a few people. Maybe it’ll get a nod for lifetime achievement? Mad God knows it qualifies…

    Don’t have much to complain about the nominations, which either means I’m getting soft in my senescence or the academy is getting better/terrified of losing even more relevance. Probably both. And I’m really happy for all the love EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE… and TOPPER GUN got.
    A lot of my favorites don’t show up – 3000 YEARS…, PEARL, TERRIFIER 2, BONES AND ALL (Mark Rylance for best supporting actor! Except I really want Gleeson to win… Sorry, Data!), NORTHMAN, YOU WON’T BE ALONE, and THE LONG ROAD (which I think qualifies because it got a 2022 release in the US?) but that’s fine, I can see why. Damn, it really was a good year for movies.

    I think maybe the other big oversight is Jordan Peele – I’ll grant NOPE has a lot of problems, but it’s a ridiculously well crafted piece of WTF-ery. I’ll also go to bat for the costumes in VESPER, which I know are good because I rarely notice that sort of thing.

  3. Just got to point out a post for the oscars is pointing us at CITIZEN TOXIE on the related posts. The AIs really are taking over!

  4. Someone mentioned on Twitter recently that THE NORTHMAN has almost the exact same plot as CONAN, but CONAN has a much better script (and let’s be real here, is a much better movie).

    Re the Oscars: I’ve only seen ELVIS (which had a few amusing moments, but Luhrmann’s worst decision was putting a few minutes of Actual Elvis at the end, because that footage nukes everything that came before) and ALL QUIET… which I am one of the skeptics Vern’s talking about. I liked the movie quite a bit, and I definitely understood that the filmmakers thought war was bad, but I still felt that they couldn’t help allowing some moments of glorious adventure slip in there.

    I might watch EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE… this weekend, or maybe WOMEN TALKING (which is free on Amazon Prime for like two more days).

  5. I love movies! You know why? Your favorite two movies of the year are EEAAO and Avatar. I absolutely love the former and think it’s one of the best movies ever while I thought Avatar 2 was a total dud and I hated almost everything about it. Art! It’s subjective!

    I will say that while I’ll be thrilled to see EEAAO win as many awards as possible, the best surprise would be seeing Bill Nighy win for Living. A lovely film overall but his performance is sublime. Everything about The Whale is wrong-headed and embarrassing, except for Hong Chau. Let us never speak of it again.

  6. Inspector Hammer Boudreaux

    March 10th, 2023 at 11:27 pm

    I’m glad you asked, Vern, because of the foreign language nominees I’ve at least seen EO and can say, without exaggeration that it is the second best movie about a donkey I’ve ever seen. (The best being AU HAZARD BALTAZAR.) Sadly, I’ve never seen that 70s TV movie about the mule who kicks field goals, tho. The donkey is an excellent choice animal to make a movie about because they’re very close to humans and, of large mammals at least, we often feel entitled to treat them horribly, such that they become a sort of mirror of ourselves and our ugly behavior. Bresson had an essentially religious feel about this, whereas in EO it’s secularized to concern meat-eating and environmental concerns. Kicks ass either way.

    But EO is nowhere as good as my second favorite pick of the year, DECISION TO LEAVE. It’s Park Chan Wook in absolute master form formally, and the storyline might hit home for those who have ever felt vengeful towards a former lover. I can’t say more without spoiling something. I’ll have to watch OLDBOY again to decide which is better Park.

    I did see the live action and animated shorts. I’m glad you said LE PUPILLE was subbed on Disney+, which I don’t have, because I was really fuckin’ confused how an Italian-language short film was on Disney+ in connection with Christmas. Not the behavior I expected from a streaming service I’ve never had. Anyhow, despite some misgivings over giving another Oscar to Disney, especially in this category, it was by far the standout. There’s also an Irish film which is, in its way, not too different from the tone of BANSHEES, and I won’t be upset if this beats the others. I’d like to mention IVALU, for a moment. This one was filmed in Greenland, a Danish dependency, but presents itself as an authentic voice about Greenland despite almost everyone behind the camera having Danish names. Would we accept my white ass and my white buds making a movie to explain Navajo culture to the world? No. We shouldn’t accept it here either. Although the film is, frankly, ok. Or maybe not- the big twist SPOILER ALERT that it is really about alcoholic sexual abuse is exactly what you’d expect it to be.

    I also saw the animated ones. THE BOY, THE MOLE etc… is favored, right? And it had a beautiful look I fell in love with. But it had this cloying earnest tone. Like, the mole says about his former enemy the fox, “We don’t hear much from the fox, do we?” and the fox hangs his head and says, “I often feel like other people don’t want to hear what I have to say.” And the boy steps in, riding on the horse, to say that no, everybody values Fox and wants to hear whatever he has to say. It’s so fucking earnest and feel-good like a warm cup of cocoa. It’s based on a children’s book, which makes me wonder if we will raise generations of blood-thirsty goons rebelling against such saccharine fare. Ugh. My mother, mother of two, commented that children don’t really like sweet stories like that as much as people think. Kids like to feel frightened and thrilled and even make fun of lame-asses. So I guess I hope THE FLYING SAILOR wins. Based on a reportedly true story of a dude in Halifax who got blown 2 kilometers and landed buck naked by an explosion in 1917. Also, many might like MY YEAR OF DICKS more than me- potential winner.

  7. As usual, I don’t really have a dog in this fight. I’ve seen three of the Best Picture nominees this year and that’s actually a lot for me. The problem is I didn’t really like any of them that much. TOP GUN 2 is a mediocre franchise programmer, a total FORCE AWAKENS, and its nomination is evidence of the continuing commodification of art in our culture. It can get fucked. AVATAR 2 is an amazing technological achievement but it’s the first Cameron film that doesn’t really have a story to tell and consequently it gets real fuckin’ boring for about an hour and a half in the middle there. It does a good job of making you want to destroy all humans but I already felt that way before it started so I don’t see how it needed to be three hours long. I am in favor of EVERYTHING ETC. winning despite the fact that it doesn’t do anything for me. On paper, it’s exciting and clever and funny and heartwarming, but in practice I just find it belligerent and depressing and the part with the butt plugs is too stupid for words. But it’s different and weird and at least it’s not a dreary slow-mo slog. I support that kind of thing even if it doesn’t speak to me personally.

  8. It was hard to pick for my work betting pool on it this year, which is cool I suppose. I found it weird I didn’t pick TOP GUN MAVERICK in any category despite ahead of time it should probably nab a technical award.

    Looking forward to the SCREAM VI review, Vern. I hope you’re considering doing a 65 watch/review as I really enjoyed it as a tight sci fi survival actioner (with some surprisingly gnarly violence at points) that puts Driver in a new sort of role, but capitalises on his Adam Driver-ness.

  9. I’m behind on most of these, as usual, so I only have a few strong opinions.

    I want Michelle Yeoh to win very badly here, for all the reasons Vern’s mentions (plus the fact that I generally don’t like Cate Blanchett very much, though I admit I haven’t seen Tár yet). I didn’t exactly love Everything etc., though I did like it (and am baffled by seemingly everyone on twitter suddenly pulling the “Fuck EEAAO! All my homies hate EEAAO!” schtick over the last few months), and I think that the cast really made it work.

    I am veritably quivering in anticipation about what the “Naatu Naatu” number is going to be like tomorrow. I will shoot my TV, Elvis style, if something else beats it. I would’ve liked for “Komuram Bheemudo” to have been nominated as well, if only because it means that they’d have to bring Ray Winstone out on stage to yell “Make that bastard kneel NOW!”

    Finally, although I haven’t seen it yet, I very much hope that All the Beauty and the Bloodshed wins its category, since my company licensed a bunch of footage to Laura Poitras for that and I want to be able to use that as a seeling point for future clients.

  10. Great stuff as always Vern.

    Check out Aftersun….it knocked me flat. The only performance I have seen this year that might top Paul Mescals was from the co star. A perfect film.

  11. Agreed, Paul Mescal is an absolutely terrific actor, and Aftersun is a straight up masterpiece.

  12. I am in total agreement about wanting Everything Everywhere to win lots of awards because I think its just wonderful.

    And want to say even though Pinocchio will probably (deservedly) win, Marcel the Shell is my #2 fave from last year and is a strong recommend from me. (And my kid, who requested to see it a second time in a theater)

  13. I haven’t seen ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, but I did watch THE QUIET GIRL last night and it gave me the feels. A very small, beautiful little film. And only 90 minutes!

  14. The last few years have made the Oscars strange for me. I used to make a point of seeing as many nominees as possible. But the fragmentation of entertainment due to streaming means that come awards season, there are a lot of things I haven’t seen (and in some cases haven’t even heard of) simply because they’re on one of the streamers which I don’t subscribe to. And the fact that a movie ticket in my area now costs over $20, I’ve become much less likely to see anything on the big screen which wasn’t a big spectacle that “needs to be seen in a theater” (and frankly, my giant 4K tv is making it difficult to justify even going to the theater for those). Anyway, it kind of bums me out. I’ll still be watching and rooting for Michelle Yeoh.

  15. Everything Everywhere All at Once OUGHT to win for sheer audacity, but if Women Talking got it I wouldn’t complain.

  16. Great night for middle-brow weird.

    Also, the three notes of the All Quiet theme should now forever be the play-off music.

    And Top Gun being nominated for best screenplay!!??!? I gotta work on the punctuation of my “whooooooooosh” and “Zaaaaaaaaaaaa” type shit. I shouldn’t be too hard on myself, apparently it took 6 writers to master it.

  17. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the movie even though I’m a big advocate for multiversal stories. However the fact that Short Round and Michelle Yeoh are both Oscar winners now puts a big smile on my face.

  18. I hate it when I have a dog in the fight; it stops me pretending that I don’t care about the Oscars. I’m glad EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE won, but I wasn’t committed to it, but damn, I really wanted Michelle Yeoh to win. So I can breathe easy now. Yay!

    Had meant to say over the weekend that I would not have been surprised if ALL QUIET was squeezed out of best international by ARGENTINA, 1985. So much for that! My thinking was that ARGENTINA, 1985 is the sort of worthy, well constructed Oscar-bait courtroom drama that wins awards. And it’s lifted above that by another great turn from Ricardo Darin.

  19. Very happy for EEAOO. The Academy is definitely changing, because I never in a million years would think such a weird, geeky, cult indie movie released in March could sweep the Oscars. This feels equivalent to, like, BUBBA HO-TEP becoming an awards darling. Rare and special, like a comet. I’m most happy of all for Ke Huy Quan. And I am delighted that he thanked Chunk in his acceptance speech. But my favorite moment was David Byrne whipping out the hot dog fingers.

    I ended up going 15-8 on my Oscar ballot. The shorts really killed me this year.

    I managed to catch seven of the Best Picture nominees before the ceremony, and I liked all of them. This is also rare. Biggest surprise for me was TÁR, which on paper sounded like a stuffy bore, but which I found captivating, with a terrific performance from Cate Blanchett. TOP GUN: MAVERICK was an expertly-crafted, finely-tuned crowd-pleaser, the kind of movie they don’t make anymore. BANSHEES was funny, sweet, and depressing as hell (is “death-affirming” a thing? It is now). ALL QUIET has a perfect opening 20 minutes or so and is very good overall. I resisted liking AVATAR, but it was pretty good, and I enjoyed that boring 1.5 hours in the middle the most. I especially liked Sigourney Weaver. ELVIS was another movie I didn’t want to like, but it mostly won me over by the end.

    My favorite movies of 2022 were probably X and THE NORTHMAN. My favorite performance was Mia Goth in PEARL.

  20. EEAAO won the most “major” categories of any movie ever (picture/director/screenplay/editing + 3 acting Oscars), which is b-a-n-a-n-a-s. Wish Bassett or Hsu had won instead of Jamie Lee but it’s hard to be mad, what an achievement.

  21. Very happy for EEAOO. The Academy is definitely changing

    Yeah, the prospect of this nu-Academy that honors middle-brow entertainment is pretty mind blowing. Who knows who may win next? Charlie Kaufman? Wouldn’t that be something?

  22. Wow, I got *too much* of what I wanted this year. Will have to remember that when next year’s winners are a nightmare!

  23. Amazing. So happy for everyone involved in Everything Everywhere…, and very happy with the results. And with GdT’s second oscar, which Pinocchio wholly deserves but still doesn’t make up for Pan’s and Devil’s not getting anything, dammit!

    I loved Argentina 1985, and much of its hold over me came from living there for the better part of two decades. It’s a very powerful movie which addresses some still-open psychic scars, but I can see how it’d look like (or hell, is) a pretty standard courtroom drama from the outside.
    And yes, Darín is a national treasure. Which I’d never thought I’d say, because during my youth he acted in the shittiest TV shows you could possibly imagine (while doing good work in theater and the occasional movie, have to say.) Not as big a surprise as Guillermo Francella, though, who was basically a sub- ‘I’d buy that for a dollar!’ guy, complete with extremely cringeworthy and very… inappropriate to these days catchphrases.

  24. I’m struggling to think of a performance, male or female, in the last 10 years that was better than Cate Blanchett in Tar.

    I can’t.

  25. Yeah, like I said, ARGENTINA, 1985 is a well made drama, and I’d be lying if I said that some of the scenes weren’t deeply moving, but I watched it because Darin was in it, and he didn’t disappoint. And it made the early awards running, winning the Golden Globe, but by last night the momentum was all with ALL QUIET.

  26. A packed capacity crowd

    Nominees consisting of phenomenally popular blockbusters mixed in with Indie Darlings

    A few very entertaining performances (Naatu! Naatu!)

    Emotional speeches from winners

    Bore-You-Shitless Political speeches at a minimum

    No Envelope Fuck Ups

    No dick-ish behavior from ppl who can’t take a fucking joke.

    #OscarsSoNormal

  27. Kimmel’s monologue was funny. I loved his crack at John Williams “that isn’t great.”

    A friend of mine goes on and on about Everything. David Byrne is one of his favorite musicians. He must have been dyin to see Byrne up there with hot dog fingers…as I was.

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